Home Cooking Ideas, Tips and Recipes

[Marmora Man]

Tin or two of good pate (French brands usually best)

Frozen loaf or two of good bread, including focaccia

Ice Cream

Chunky cut marmalade

Marmite

Worcester sauce (Bloody Mary's & Cheese on Toast essential)

Tabasco sauce (Bloody Mary's again)

Celery Salt (Bloody Mary's)

Tinned / bottled Tomato Juice (yes - Bloody Mary's)

Passata

[Narnia]

Ladymuck Wrote:

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> Shit No! I've just checked the recipe. It's

> Narnia's. There's NO milk (or any liquid). That

> can't be right. HELP. Narnia - where are you?

I know it's a bit late but I should have mentioned I tried the said recipe myself recently. Something went wrong somewhere and it turned out like a round brick. I still ate a quarter of it before binning the rest though as I liked the smell!

[Tarot]

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[HAL9000]

Anglo-Indian style curries are prepared with a mild to medium base curry sauce that can be made in bulk and refrigerated until required.

Base Anglo-Indian style Curry Sauce Recipe (makes approx. 1 to 1 1/2 litres)

3 large onions sliced

1 bell/capsicum pepper sliced

1 large tomato diced

1 scotch bonnet or 2-3 hot red/green chilli peppers sliced (optional - for extra heat)

3-4 cloves garlic crushed

2-3 inches fresh ginger sliced

1 medium potato diced & boiled

1 medium carrot sliced & boiled

[Optional: add spice ball or purse filled with aromatics to water in which potato and carrots are boiled]

3-4 tblsp tomato puree

2-4 tblsp medium or hot Madras-style curry powder (i.e. coriander, turmeric, cumin and paprika [2:1:1:1])

1 tblsp English mustard (optional)

1-2 tblsp sugar (or to taste)

10-20 black peppercorns crushed

1/2 to 1 tsp salt (or to taste)

In a covered saucepan over medium heat -

Well-fry the onions and bell peppers in 50:50 vegetable (olive or mustard recommended) oil and butter until soft and golden brown.

Add ingredients in second group towards the end and continue to cook until the tomato is soft.

Add the boiled potato and carrot along with the water they were boiled in.

Add the final group of ingredients and simmer for a few minutes while stirring.

Puree with a stick blender or food processor - add more boiled water as required - until smooth with a consistency like thick gravy or custard.

This sauce serves as the base for dozens of popular Anglo-Indian curries and side dishes. It will keep for a few weeks in a refrigerator and several months in a freezer if decanted into tubs or jars and sealed while hot.

Lamb, spinach and coconut curry (Substitute: beef, pork, chicken or king prawns)

Fry sliced onion and bell pepper until soft in 50:50 oil/butter

Add diced lamb and stir until sealed

Add 1 tsp curry powder (per serving)

Cover saucepan and stew on low heat until meat is tender (add a little water if required)

Remove cover, stir on high heat for a few minutes until water evaporates and meat browns

Add base curry sauce (approx. one cup per serving) and bring to simmer on medium heat while stirring (add a little water if too thick)

[Optional: add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp (per serving) (red hot) cayenne pepper for extra heat as required]

Add approx. 25-gram block (per serving) of creamed coconut and stir until dissolved

Fold in 2-3 handfuls of fresh baby spinach leaves (per serving) and stir until limp

Finally, fry the sauce with constant stirring on high heat until any excess water is absorbed or driven off

Serve hot with boiled long-grain rice, naan bread and mango chutney.

[HAL9000]

I've been experimenting with different ways to prepare chestnuts for Christmas stuffing.

Roasting pierced chestnuts for 20-30 minutes under a full grill with intermittent turning seems about right - but this method may produce rather dry, chewy kernels that are difficult to peel.

However, simmering pierced chestnuts for ten minutes produces soft kernels whose outer and inner skins slough off easily with little effort.

Incidentally, over roasted chestnuts may be salvaged by simmering the hard/scorched kernels for 3 to 5 minutes.

[Marmora Man]

ON subject of chestnuts - last weekend Mrs MM & I were in Rome (much warmer than ED). The roast chestnut sellers there seem to belong to a guild, all their stalls are small works of art, with beautiful mounds of carefully split and cooked chestnuts, while the brazier & stall are decorated with ribbons, baubles and large fake chestnuts. Today, finishing Xmas shopping in Oxford St, the London chestnut sellers were not up to the same standard.

PS: Was also told that the black / white smoke used to signal progress when electing a new Pope was produced using a chestnut roasting brazier and temporary chimney set up in a corner of the Sistine Chapel - could this be true?